


Well, That Escalated Quickly

by TonyStarkissist



Series: The Adventures of Uncle Tony and his gaggle of li'l Chil'ren [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, IronUncle, Irondad, Nate is worried about his uncle, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper and Peter worry about their boi, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, Tony Stark-centric, Tony will do almost anything for his kids, Uncle Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-29 23:33:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17817638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TonyStarkissist/pseuds/TonyStarkissist
Summary: “You okay?” Nate sniffled after a few moments of thinking about what Tony told him.“I’m fine, but I need you to promise me something.” Nate perked up at that, and he nodded vigorously as he waited for his instructions. “I need you to promise me that you won’t listen to that TV lady when she says I’m dead. Don’t listen to any TV lady or TV man that says I’m dead, because usually they don’t know what in the world they’re talking about. And in return, I promise to call your Dad or your Mom so I can talk to you when stuff like this happens. I promise not to die without telling you, alright buddy?”“Alright.”OR: Tony gets attacked and Nate is really worried





	Well, That Escalated Quickly

Today had been a crap day. First some idiot tried to shoot him, and then another idiot tried to shoot him, and soon a whole bunch of idiots were trying to shoot him. Gathered around the diner he was trying to peacefully eat lunch at. Which only ended in him becoming utterly pissed off and blasting their sorry asses to Timbuktu. It definitely didn't help their case with Pepper cowering under the table as bullets rang through the quaint diner, because that _really_ pissed him off. Especially when one of the idiots dared to target her.

All he was trying to do was have a nice lunch with his wife, and it was most definitely a turn-off when he got shot in the shoulder before the suit was able to cover him completely. Pepper refused to stop fussing about it in his ear while he took care of the situation. He knew that he was most definitely in for a long night when he got back home, and it was not the ‘long night’ he had been wishing for with a bullet through his shoulder.

Thankfully, though, no civilians got hurt, but there were a lot of damages done to the restaurant and he promised the owner that he'd pay for all the repairs, which he was thanked profusely for.

After all that was over and done with, he retracted the suit, the police and paramedics were called, and he couldn't help but grimace at the ugly hole in his shoulder. Pepper immediately rushed up to him, stepping over splintered wood and shattered glass to reach him.

He winced slightly when she prodded around the wound, insisting he remove his jacket so she could apply pressure until the ambulance got there to take over for her.

Others in the diner began full on panicking when they saw the bright red blood staining the whole front of his crisp, white dress shirt. Yeah… it had been a lot of blood.

It was a through and through wound, he already knew that. He also knew that Helen would patch him up just fine back at the compound. It wasn't the first time he'd been shot in his life, but boy did it sting. And Pepper was definitely going to end up having an aneurysm by the end of the night if her face was anything to go by.

So, despite literally everyone's, including Peppers, protests, he insisted on going back to the Compound to get fixed up instead of sitting in some nasty, reusable hospital gown while a bunch of nurses and Doctors fawned and fussed over him. He also didn’t want this plastered all over the front page, and that’s exactly what would happen if he went to a public hospital to be fixed up.

Pepper, despite her better judgement, agreed when she heard his reasoning, and they exited the building, hoping to beat the ambulance’s arrival.

Bad idea…

The couple was at once bombarded with questions and cameras being shoved in their faces. How a swarm of hungry vultures had gathered so quickly, he didn't know, but thankfully there were a few officers there jumping into action to hold them back as Pepper and Tony rushed across the parking lot. The flashing of the cameras did nothing for his growing headache, and he wished Happy were there.

So, yeah, Pepper drove the car back to the Compound and he had to suffer through a half hour drive with a bullet through his shoulder and a pounding headache. Not fun…

The story was probably plastered all over the news already… sadly. People were surely making up ludicrous stories about his imminent death. _Oh look; high and mighty ‘Iron Man’ had been shot!_

He didn't even want to think about it.

So, they got back to the Compound, and he was bombarded with more coddling from his teammates as they trailed behind, him like worried mothers, to the medical wing. Apparently, they had thought that surely, he had died with all the dramatics the news had riled it up to be.

Peter had most definitely been the most freaked out when he showed up a few hours later after Tony was all stitched up and beyond ready to leave the bed Helen had imposed upon him. As he thought back on it, he probably should have texted the boy to let him know, but it had just slipped his mind in the craziness of the afternoon.

“Mr. Stark!” He had burst into the room with wide eyes and a red face. His chest heaved with panicked breaths as he scrambled to the bed he laid in. And the IV in his arm probably wasn't helping the kid's obviously growing panic.

“It’s alright Pete,” Tony chuckled, squeezing Peter's hand when he reached to grab his, “I'm not dying, I promise.”

“You-you swear?”

“I swear,” Tony smiled, “sorry for not texting you. How did Decathlon go?”

“Tony, you just got shot!” Peter squeaked, looking absolutely horrified by the notion as Tony attempted to have a somewhat normal conversation.

“Yes, I'm quite aware of my predicament Peter. Now how did practice go? Was Flash being a jerk again?”

Peter simply stared at him for a few moments, but eventually resigned to the fact that Tony was going to be alright. Pepper joined them a few minutes later and the two of them didn't leave his side until Helen came back and unhooked him from the IV around 6:00. Boy, does time fly when you just got shot.

Both Pepper and Peter fussed at him the entire way up to his room. Which, geez, they were acting like he'd never been hurt before.

“Just-"he snapped, heaving in a sigh as the pair nagged him from the doorway. “Just let me rest, okay? Let me shower, get dressed, take a little nap, and I'll be down in a few hours. We can watch a movie tonight or something, call May and tell her you’re staying over.” And with that he shut the door in both of their faces and went off to do exactly what he said he was going to do.

He did all that, then he ventured down 4 hours later to scrounge around for dinner scraps. Thankfully, most of the team had dispersed into their own private quarters which only left Pepper, Rhodey and Peter waiting for him in the common room by the time he sat down.

“You feeling okay, Tones?” Rhodey asked as he eyed the sling around his shoulder, cradling his arm close to his chest.

Tony smiled numbly while he stuffed his mouth with food and gestured to the TV. Peter clicked on the movie he picked out and shuffled a little closer to him on the couch as he did so. Much closer than what was strictly necessary, but he didn’t really mind.

“I'm gonna go make some popcorn!” Pepper grinned, hoping up from her seat and scurrying into the kitchen.

She missed the very beginning of the awfully familiar Terminator movie they had all watched about a thousand times. Peter was for some reason obsessed with it lately.

“Uncle Tony, this is the fifth time Clint Barton has called within the hour. I believe it may be important.” ALBERT announced a few minutes into the movie.

Tony groaned and threw his head back dramatically. The archer probably just wanted to make sure he wasn't dead after seeing the news. He was out visiting his family for the past couple weeks and he wasn't around when Tony told everyone to ‘shut up and leave me alone’ because he was perfectly fine.

“Somebody texted him and told him I wasn't dead already?”

Peter automatically lowered the volume of the movie, but let it continue playing while Tony talked to ALBERT.

“Yes, but he says he still needs to talk to you.”

Tony groaned and whined like a child, gesturing to the side table where his phone resided. Rhodey reached over to grab it for him while Tony mumbled a ‘transfer call' under his breath. He wasn’t in any mood to talk to the archer, or anyone for that matter.

“What?” He snapped as soon as he pressed the phone to his ear. His patience had already worn thin and he only wanted to watch a movie with his family.

“Oh, thank god!” Clint groaned in relief. Tony raised a brow in amusement at his response.

“What?” He laughed, “happy I'm not dead? Didn't know you cared that much Katniss.”

Clint completely ignored the jab and immediately jumped into the reason why he called. “Please tell Nathaniel that you’re not dead.”

There was a significant amount of shuffling that could be heard across the line, and Tony furrowed his brows in confusion. “What? Why? Just tell him I’m fine.”

“You don’t think we’ve tried that?” Clint scoffed incredulously, sounding beyond exhausted. “He’s been screaming bloody murder for like an hour. Cooper’s getting pissed, and me and Laura just want to go to bed.”

As if to prove his point, Tony could hear the high-pitched wails through the receiver, and he winces. Peter glances up at him worriedly and Tony just pats his shoulder in reassurance, and he returns his attention to the movie.

“Did you let him watch the news or something?”

“We didn’t mean to,” Clint groaned, “we thought he was just watching SpongeBob until he started sobbing on the carpet. He’s been a wreck all day. I’ve tried calling you a million times, but you haven’t answered, and I even called Steve to talk to him, but he won’t listen to anybody!” Clint was starting to panic, Tony could hear it in his voice. He was most definitely going to be teasing the spy about it later.

“And-and we were able to get him to go to sleep a few hours ago, but he woke up screaming and now it’s worse! He’s convinced that your dead and he won’t listen to a word me or Laura tell him. _Please_. Please just talk to him.”

“I never said I wouldn’t,” Tony scoffed, feeling a little tightening in the chest at the insinuation that Nate actually cared enough to cry for him in the middle of the night. As some more shuffling was heard over the phone, Pepper entered the room again with the popcorn. She raised her brows at the phone in Tony’s hand, but Rhodey waved her off for him and mouthed ‘Nate’ as if that were the only explanation needed.

Soon, the distinct sound of sniffles could be heard through the receiver, and he could distinctly hear Clint announcing that it was ‘Uncle Tony on the phone’ in the background. It hurt his heart just a little bit when he heard the soft cries of Nathaniel, insisting that it couldn't be. So, Tony took that as his cue to jump in.

“Hey buddy.” He tried his best at a soothing, reassuring voice, and he felt it worked, because immediately the cries stopped. There was still some sniffling, but the cries had been replaced with a lot of shuffling and movement, and soon the call had been transferred to a video call.

He wasn’t the one that had done it, and it most definitely wouldn’t have been Nate by himself. ALBERT was definitely to blame, but he sighed to himself and held the phone out to look at Nate anyways, hoping that he didn’t look as terrible as he was feeling.

He was at once greeted with the blotchy, puffed out baby face of his nephew. His eyes were rimmed red and glimmering with tears as his bottom lip wobbled dangerously. He could feel Peter peering over his shoulder to see as well, but otherwise remained silent.

“What?” Tony smiled, “no hello for Uncle Tony?”

_God, did he just say that? Out loud?_

Nate’s lip continued to wobble, and his face contorted hideously as if he were about to burst into another bout of tears.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay bud. There’s no need to cry.” He really didn’t want to deal with the crying, especially the ugly crying. That was the absolute worst.

The screen wobbled a little bit as Nate lost his hold on the device, but he quickly picked it back up and stared straight at Tony as if he were some mystical phenomena.

“Un-unc’e Tony?”

“Yep, it sure is kiddo.” Tony made sure to grin brightly for good measure.

“You okay?”

Tony didn’t have to fake a grin that time. A soft smile gently pulled up the corners of his mouth and his heart warmed happily at Nathaniel’s innocent worry.

“Yep, I’m just fine. What about you, you don’t look so happy right now. Tell me what’s eating at ya.”

He sort of hated that everyone could hear his conversation, including Clint and possibly Laura, but he was too lazy to get up and move. At least it was only Pepper, Rhodey, and Peter. If it had been anyone else, he would have hightailed it out of there a long time ago.

“I-I-I thought you-you were gone! TV lady said you died! Daddy said you weren’t, but-but TV lady is always right about rain and-and she said you died!” Nate sobbed.

“Hey buddy,” Tony panicked, “look at me. I don’t look very dead to you, do I?”

Nate shook his head, staring at Tony as the big, crocodile tears fell down his little boy cheeks.

“But-But TV lady said you’re dead!” Nate insisted stubbornly. “And-and I saw you!”

Tony really wasn’t in the mood to deal with a delirious toddler this late at night.

“Did you have a bad dream about it?” Tony asked softly, trying his best to keep his frustration from leaking into his voice. Upsetting the boy further was the last thing he wanted to do.

Nate slowly nodded his head, and he lifted a little hand to wipe at his face.

“Well, you wanna know the wonderful thing about nightmares?” Tony smiled and Nate nodded. “They aren’t real.”

 _Most of the time_ … but he wasn’t about to tell a panicking toddler that.

“You okay?” Nate sniffled after a few moments of thinking about what Tony told him.

“I’m fine, but I need you to promise me something.” Nate perked up at that, and he nodded vigorously as he waited for his instructions. “I need you to promise me that you won’t listen to that TV lady when she says I’m dead. Don’t listen to any TV lady or TV man that says I’m dead, because usually they don’t know what in the world they’re talking about. And in return, I promise to call your Dad or your Mom so I can talk to you when stuff like this happens. I promise not to die without telling you, alright buddy?”

“Alright.” Nate sniffled, looking a significantly less distressed than when they started their conversation.

“Great, you good now?”

Nate nodded his head, a small little smile peeking out.

“Good, I’ll see you when you get here tomorrow buddy, and I expect a big smile when I see you.”

Nate showed off his smile, as if demonstrating for the occasion.

“Yep, perfect, just like that. And I’ll let you in on another little secret…” Tony paused for dramatics and leaned in a little closer to the phone. “You can’t tell anyone, but… when your awake at night, it makes time go really slow, but if you go to sleep then you speed it up.”

Nate’s eyes widen as if he’d been told the secret of all secrets. “No way!”

“Yes way,” Tony nods insistently, “so that means you have to sleep tonight so time moves faster. The longer you sleep the quicker time moves and the quicker I can see you. Can you do that?”

Nate nods enthusiastically again, and the screen wobbles as he falls backwards into his bed.

“Sing!” He insists, staring at Tony through the screen with an expectant expression. The outburst made Rhodey almost choke on his popcorn, but Tony ignored him.

“No can do, buddy. There’s too many witnesses right now. Maybe another time.”

Nate pouted, but he didn’t argue. He yawned really big a few moments later, and his eyes drooped lethargically.

“Night-night Unc’e Tony. Love you lots!”

Tony took a moment to respond, and his eyes widened comically as he did so, but he still responded with a smile and a “love you too squirt.”

As if in perfect timing, Nate knocked out and the phone fell sideways, obscuring his view with sheets decorated with rocket ships. He was ready to end the call completely, but then the phone was being lifted and he could see a scruffy looking Clint Barton staring back at him with a tranquil smile.

“Thank you, Tony. You don’t know how good it feels to hear silence again.” A giddy grin passes over the archer’s face and Tony rolls his eyes at him.

“Sure, no problem. I’ll see you and the kiddos tomorrow. What time will you be getting here?”

“Uh,” Clint paused to yawn widely as he scratched his head. He looked to the side, probably at his wife, and then turned back to the phone, “I don’t know. Laura and I are planning on leaving fairly early. So, we might get there around 9 or 10.”

Tony nods his head, and just as he’s about the say goodbye and end the call, Peter props his chin up on his shoulder and grins at the archer on the screen. “Hey Clint!”

“Oh,” Clint blinks in surprise for a moment and then he smiles, “Hey Pete. Keeping your old man in line tonight? He’s probably extra cranky, huh?”

Both Peter and Rhodey laugh at that one, but Tony doesn’t find it’s very funny.

“Ha ha. Very funny. Now, go to sleep and stop pestering me Barton. Tell Laura I say hello.”

And with that he ends the call and he leans his head back against the cushions. Peter doesn’t even hesitate to cozy up next to him as either ALBERT or FRIDAY up the volume on their movie.

“You’re such a pushover.” Rhodey mumbles under his breath a few minutes later. And a glare from Tony is the only thing needed to shut him up.

**Author's Note:**

> So sorry for the cringe fest. This idea has just been nagging at me ever since last night and I just had to write it. Thanks for reading though, and I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
